Chandlerville, IL - Carlyle, IL - Carmi, IL

 August 19-26, 2025

The check-out time at our campground wasn't until 3pm, so in the morning we drove to Peoria to the Caterpillar Visitor Center.

This is a life size model of the 797F rock truck.  When you enter the museum you are taken to a theatre that would fit in the bed of the truck.  This truck is HUGE!

The actual tires weigh 12,000 pounds and are 14' in diameter.

They have some of the early machines too.

They have simulators where you can try your hand at operating a bulldozer and excavator.  John got the hang of it pretty quick.  I tried it and ended up doing the same spot over and over.

It was well worth going to the visitor center.

When we were done at Caterpillar we had lunch and got on the road.  We like to take back roads, but we seemed to be on a lot of these type roads.  Most of them were pretty good and traffic was almost non-existent.  I don't think these are on the trucker's map.

We went to Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area campground near Chandlerville, IL for three nights.  It was 50 amp full hookups for $27.25 per night.  Finally the campground rates are getting reasonable!  Being during the week it was very quiet, but our neighbors said it got pretty noisy on the weekends.  It was a nice campground and I would go there again.

On Wednesday, August 20, we went into Springfield to the Abraham Lincoln home.  It was the only home that the Lincolns owned.  Originally it was a story and a half, but the upstairs ceiling wasn't high enough to stand up in, so they added the second story.  I had been here when I was 11 years old and it was nice to see it again.  I don't remember going inside, but I do remember the outside.

The back of the house.

The parlor.  As you can see, chairs back then weren't very comfortable, so Lincoln would normally sit on the floor and lean against a chair.  I don't imagine that was very comfortable either.

Lincoln's bedroom.  The guide said that although the bed looks to short for Lincoln, it was in fact long enough.

Mary Lincoln's bedroom.  Back in those days it was common for people of a certain social standing to have separate bedrooms.

A 'log cabin' similar to this one behind us was used in Lincoln's presidential campaign.

The street that the house is on.  You can see it on the right.

From there we went to the Presidential Museum.  It was very well done and laid out so it was easy to follow and see everything.

Depiction of Lincoln's boyhood home.

Lincoln reading by the fire.  His father thought reading books was a waste of time and discouraged it.  He was quite a harsh man, which might explain why Lincoln leaned the other way and Willie and Tad had no discipline.  Lincoln only had about 18 months of schooling and the rest was self taught.

Lincoln's store.

Mary Todd Lincoln's inaugural ball gown.

The White House kitchen.

From what I've read they could make enormous quantities of food in this kitchen.

Lincoln's cabinet.

After we were done at the museum we went across the street to the library.  There wasn't much to see there but we saw it!

Across the street there was a park with this statue of Lincoln.

Then we went to Lincoln's tomb.

As I mentioned, I had been to Springfield when I was 11 years old.  I remember my dad holding my brother and I up so we could tough Lincoln's nose.  For old times sake I had to do it again.

This is where Abraham, Mary, Eddie (who died in 1850 at the age of four), Willie, and Tad are buried.  Robert is the only son of Abraham and Mary that lived.

Lincoln's tomb.

On Friday, August 22 we drove by miles and miles of corn and soybean fields to Boulder Campground near Carlyle, IL for three nights.

It was 50 amp electric only for $10 per night with the senior pass.  Our site backed up to the lake and the sites are well spaced.

God gave us a beautiful sunset.

It's finally getting cooler and we could sit outside without melting or having bugs eat us.

On Sunday we went to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO.

We took the tram to the top.  This is the view over the Mississippi River.

The view toward St. Louis with the Old Courthouse at the top.  You actually enter where the circle is and go underground.

A mock up of the cars that take you to the top.  Notice the seats; I'll have more on that later.  The cars can hold five people but our guide said they usually don't put more than four people in one car.  It's tight!

A model of how the cars go up and down the arch.

This sign tells about the arch and the chairs.

This is the probably the only scale model of the arch left that was used by the design team.
Notice the tulip chair.  When the arch opened this was the style of furniture (I had a small table very similar to this with the stem and base).  The seats on the trams are designed after this chair and are the originals.

The Old Courthouse.

On Monday, August 25 we drove to Burrell Woods Bicentennial Park Campground for two nights.  It's a very nice city park with 50 amp full hookups for $24.25 per night.  Looking around I see only one other trailer, and I haven't seen any people there, so it's really quiet.  The drive to get here was not really easy, going through town and neighborhoods, but worth it.

Today was cleaning and laundry day, and tomorrow we'll be...

Roving on...

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Hebrews 11:3